Author Topic: Switched Auto and Home insurance...after years of no claim rate increases  (Read 3044 times)

tn3sport

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Got a lead on this insurance company through MMM blog and gave them a call.
I saving $910 on my first year insurance on 3 cars and a single family house.  I say first year because I think its pretty normal for them to jack my home-owners policy after the first year.  So, as long as its a reasonable increase a year from now, I should still have a nice annual savings.

The detail: I was with StateFarm for decades and never filed a claim. A tornado took about 20% of the shingles off my house. Same tornado stream that hit the University of Alabama 4 years ago. EF4 800 meters wide and 35 miles long.  Statefarm offered to pay for half a roof replacement. Half a roof. I asked the agent if he would settle for half a new roof. He declined to answer. I took their settlement but ended up having to fund about 60% of the full roof replacement out of my pocket. The thing that I didn't like from Statefarm was that they made me feel like a criminal for filing a claim. They didn't rush to my house after the tornado to see if I was ok or if I needed food or water. They rushed out to create their photographs for damage proof.  I didn't feel like that premium insurance company treated me like a premium customer. So, I dropped them and moved to an insurance company that is basically an 800 number. The days of having a local agent have ended.

Moved to Travelers Insurance. Got better rates right away. Then, they started jacking them up yr to yr. They did this by jacking up the published value of my home. I'm in TN. Houses are cheap here. They started using national averages and rate tables for the value of my home instead of what my home would actually cost to rebuild. As a result, the rates doubled over a 4 year period with no claims...

In comes MMM. I read his blog and he uses Safeco. Or at least he did when he wrote his blog.  I called them and made the switch. Same coverage, same deductibles, same replacement cost values. Like for like.

$910 first year savings. Booked!

I'll monitor them for a while and if they start jacking my rates, I'll shop again... I've filed one claim in 30 years of being an auto and home insurance client.   I would think I should be paying the ultimate in low rates.  So, I'm using my good history to price shop for the best rates. 

Shade00

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I have been a Safeco customer for about 4 years after I got fed up with State Farm's exorbitant rates (and no claims, either). Premiums have continued to creep up on both my home and auto policies with Safeco. The past two years homeowners has gone up 10% each year. They use the excuse that building materials go up, etc. Anyway, Safeco has been excellent for customer service for several auto claims, so I will probably stick with them until I buy my next house after our next move (to Tennessee, coincidentally).

patchyfacialhair

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Got a lead on this insurance company through MMM blog and gave them a call.
I saving $910 on my first year insurance on 3 cars and a single family house.  I say first year because I think its pretty normal for them to jack my home-owners policy after the first year.  So, as long as its a reasonable increase a year from now, I should still have a nice annual savings.

The detail: I was with StateFarm for decades and never filed a claim. A tornado took about 20% of the shingles off my house. Same tornado stream that hit the University of Alabama 4 years ago. EF4 800 meters wide and 35 miles long.  Statefarm offered to pay for half a roof replacement. Half a roof. I asked the agent if he would settle for half a new roof. He declined to answer. I took their settlement but ended up having to fund about 60% of the full roof replacement out of my pocket. The thing that I didn't like from Statefarm was that they made me feel like a criminal for filing a claim. They didn't rush to my house after the tornado to see if I was ok or if I needed food or water. They rushed out to create their photographs for damage proof.  I didn't feel like that premium insurance company treated me like a premium customer. So, I dropped them and moved to an insurance company that is basically an 800 number. The days of having a local agent have ended.

Moved to Travelers Insurance. Got better rates right away. Then, they started jacking them up yr to yr. They did this by jacking up the published value of my home. I'm in TN. Houses are cheap here. They started using national averages and rate tables for the value of my home instead of what my home would actually cost to rebuild. As a result, the rates doubled over a 4 year period with no claims...

In comes MMM. I read his blog and he uses Safeco. Or at least he did when he wrote his blog.  I called them and made the switch. Same coverage, same deductibles, same replacement cost values. Like for like.

$910 first year savings. Booked!

I'll monitor them for a while and if they start jacking my rates, I'll shop again... I've filed one claim in 30 years of being an auto and home insurance client.   I would think I should be paying the ultimate in low rates.  So, I'm using my good history to price shop for the best rates.

First: Congrats on all the savings! I always shop my auto and property policies at renewal.

Second: Be sure to read the part of your new policy that deals with loss settlement; some home insurance providers settle roof claims based on ACV (Actual Cash Value: or, Replacement Cost less depreciation).

This is how some providers appear to be competitive in some markets. For example, last year I convinced my parents to switch companies after I reviewed their policy, and saw how roof losses would be settled via ACV. I had always offered to review their policies, but they were hesitant at the time since they had been with 1 company for 20+ years.

About 6 months later, a nasty hailstorm damaged their roof. Their roof was about 75% through its lifespan, so for a $15,000 roof, switching prevented a $12,000 surprise. The good news: the new roof is rated better, so now their premium is even lower than when they switched, even accounting for the loss of their claims free discount. I'm now working to monetize my fortune telling skills....

forummm

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Nice rate reduction! I have had it on my list to shop around my coverages since I got yet another string of rate increases from GEICO/Travelers last week. I have also had just 1 claim in my entire life--and it was just a stupid parking lot issue where my foot slipped and the other owner rushed to file with insurance instead of letting me pay for her minor crinkle.

I'll give Safeco a call.

Another thought is that if you can self-insure, your deductible could be a lot higher. Mine's at $10k. That would keep most roof issues from even being a hassle--just get it done how you want. It'll save you both hundreds of dollars per year in premiums and on rate increases due to claims.

tn3sport

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...

Another thought is that if you can self-insure, your deductible could be a lot higher. Mine's at $10k. That would keep most roof issues from even being a hassle--just get it done how you want. It'll save you both hundreds of dollars per year in premiums and on rate increases due to claims.

Yeah, I hear you on the self-insure by using super high deductibles. I dislike that so much of my money goes out the window every month paying insurance.
Health insurance, Life insurance, Home-owners, Auto, boat, motorcycle.  I'm afraid to add it all up as I'm sure it approaches $10k/yr.  It would make a great exercise to add it all up and find ways to cut it. Especially, since I rarely use it.

I'm doing a little $100/mo challenge right now where I try to find $100 of recurring monthly expenses to take out of my budget. I'm doing this for an entire year. Insurance was the low hanging fruit. Raising deductibles might be the next step.


expectopatronum

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Ugh, the 1/2 roof move they pulled on you is just disgusting.

I'm going to keep safeco in mind; we just combined our car insurance at GEICO and took my DH off Nationwide. Now we're shopping for Homeowner's. Nationwide's rate was going to be $200/6mos more than GEICO(!) for auto insurance.